Rare Care Podcast

Larry Luxner, senior correspondent for Rare Disease Advisor, interviews Timothy Craig, DO, a tenured professor of medicine, pediatrics and biomedical sciences at Pennsylvania State University in Hershey. Dr. Craig has been researching hereditary angioedema for 30 years.

Larry Luxner, senior correspondent for Rare Disease Advisor, interviews Sangeetha Venugopal, MD, assistant professor of clinical medicine at the University of Miami's Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Venugopal speaks on how smoking worsens outcomes for patients with a group of blood cancers known as myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS).

Larry Luxner, senior correspondent for Rare Disease Advisor, interviews Andrea Renzi, a New Hampshire mother and patient advocate whose family has been affected by hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn (HDFN).

Larry Luxner, senior correspondent for Rare Disease Advisor, interviews James Bussel, MD, emeritus professor of pediatrics, medicine, and obstetrics and gynecology at New York's Weill Cornell Medicine. The topic of their discussion is nipocalimab as a potential treatment for fetal and neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia (FNAIT).

Larry Luxner, senior correspondent for Rare Disease Advisor, interviews Rigoberto Garcia, executive director of the Hemophilia Foundation of Southern California, about the difficulty minorities—especially undocumented Hispanics—have in accessing treatment for their bleeding disorders.

Larry Luxner, senior correspondent for Rare DIsease Advisor, interviews Kristin Hatcher, director of pediatric and rare diseases at the Global Liver Institute. Hatcher has both alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (AATD) and Von Willebrand disease, a rare clotting disorder.

Larry Luxner, senior correspondent for Rare Disease Advisor, interviews Terry Jo Bichell, PhD, founder and director of CombinedBrain, which advocates for patients with 110 neurogenetic diseases. Dr. Bichell is part of a panel that's studying how the US Food and Drug Administration can do a better job of speeding up clinical trials and becoming more transparent about its decisions.

Larry Luxner, senior correspondent for Rare Disease Advisor, interviews Erin Collins, founder of the Chasing Rainbows Foundation in North Carolina's Outer Banks. The charity raises awareness of HDFN and other rare pregnancy-related diseases.

Larry Luxner, senior correspondent for Rare Disease Advisor, interviews Dean Wingerchuk, MD, speaks on the potential for treating neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) with stem-cell therapy.

Larry Luxner, senior correspondent for Rare Disease Advisor, interviews Jimmy Pollard, who for the past 38 years has advocated on behalf of people around the world affected by Huntington disease.

Larry Luxner, senior correspondent for Rare Disease Advisor, interviews clinical psychologist Rosalind Kalb, lead senior programs consultant for Can-Do MS, a Colorado-based nonprofit health and wellness organization.

Larry Luxner, senior correspondent for Rare Disease Advisor, interviews Tanita Allen, a Black woman with Huntington disease who has made it her mission to increase awareness about the disorder and its devastating impact on patients regardless of their racial or ethnic background.

Larry Luxner, senior correspondent for Rare Disease Advisor, interviews Jean Elwing, MD, a professor of medicine and director of the Pulmonary Hypertension Program at Ohio's University of Cincinnati.

Larry Luxner, senior correspondent for Rare DIsease Advisor, interviews Payel Gupta, MD, on social media platforms such as TikTok, Facebook and YouTube, and their importance in reaching today's public—and fighting online misinformation.

Larry Luxner, senior correspondent for Rare Disease Advisor, interviews Sandy Siegel, founder and president of the Siegel Rare Neuroimmune Association. Siegel started the charity 30 years ago with his wife, Pauline, after she was diagnosed with transverse myelitis. After Pauline's death in 2017, the organization expanded to include five other rare neuroimmune diseases including neuromyelitis optic...

Larry Luxner, senior correspondent for Rare Disease Advisor, interviews Anastasia Vishnevetsky, MD, MPH, of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Vishnevetsky is heading a groundbreaking clinical trial of the cannabinoid spray nabiximols in treating the symptoms of NMOSD.

Larry Luxner, senior correspondent for Rare Disease Advisor, interviews Ignacio Muñoz-Sanjuan, PhD, the president and founder of Factor-H—a Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization that works to alleviate extreme poverty among people with Huntington disease in Venezuela, Colombia, and Peru.

Larry Luxner, senior correspondent for Rare Disease Advisor, interviews Amy Case, MD, chief medical officer of the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation, about the importance of passing the bipartisan Supplemental Oxygen Access Reform (SOAR) Act, which is currently stalled in Congress.

Larry Luxner, senior correspondent for Rare Disease Advisor, interviews Steve Van Wormer, cofounder and director of the Phaware Global Association. Van Wormer became a patient advocate after his late son, Lucas, was diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension at age 4.

Larry Luxner, senior correspondent for Rare Disease Advisor, interviews Victor Test, MD, an expert in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Dr. Test is a professor of medicine and chair of the pulmonary vascular disease program at Texas Tech School of Medicine in Lubbock.

Larry Luxner, senior correspondent for Rare Disease Advisor, interviews pulmonologist Drew Harris, MD, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. Dr. Harris is also medical director of the Black Lung Program at Stone Mountain Health Services, in the heart of southwestern Virginia's coal-mining industry.

Larry Luxner, senior correspondent for Rare Disease Advisor, interviews Mahesh Desai, PhD, of the Luxembourg Institute of Health’s Department of Infection and Immunity. Dr. Desai discusses how healthy gut bacteria may reduce the side effects of chemotherapy in cancer patients.

Larry Luxner, senior correspondent for Rare Disease Advisor, interviews Karin Hoelzer, DVM, PhD, senior director of policy and regulatory affairs at the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD). Dr. Hoelzer discusses the importance of convincing the US Congress to renew the Rare Pediatric Disease Priority Review Voucher Program, which is set to expire on September 30, 2024.

Larry Luxner, senior correspondent for Rare Disease Advisor, interviews Susan Ward, PhD, founder and executive director of the Collaborative Trajectory Analysis Project (cTAP), which seeks to broaden patient eligibility for clinical trials in Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Larry Luxner, senior correspondent for Rare Disease Advisor, interviews Taylor Kane, founder and executive director of 'Remember the Girls.' The charity advocates for female carriers of X-linked rare disorders including Duchenne muscular dystrophy and hemophilia.